128 mph in 2nd Gear That’s not very informative if they don’t tell you how many gears it actually has… 128 mph in 2nd Gear LOOKING like a large watermelon seed, this super-streamlined auto racer is showing slick form. In the running tests for the Bonneville National Speed Trials it developed 128 mph in second gear. Powered with a souped-up […]

Voting Machine for Young Citizens
YOU can teach your children to be good citizens with this voting machine scaled down to neighborhood size. Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions clubs, youth organizations or junior groups can run a mock election to prepare for adult citizenship—and the clubs can use the machine for real elections of their own officers and leaders.

Fold-Up Homes Travel With You
By JAMES JOSEPH
TODAY'S home designers have reached into the seven seas, borrowed an old habit from the turtle, and come up with houses you can carry with you. The result is compact, demountable, low-cost portable homes which come neatly packaged, ready to be hauled down the nation's highways—perhaps even behind the family car.

Old Hats Make New Rugs
By ELEANORE ENGELS
Photos by Wally Kunkle
THERE are many kinds of felt rugs, but we will discuss only 3 in this article: the tongue or petal rug (Figs. 1, 4 and 6)—sometimes called the scalloped doormat—the appliqued felt rug (Fig. 10) and the embroidered felt rug. These needlework floor coverings require no special frames, hooks, or gadgets. All you need is a long, stout needle (somewhat slimmer than a darning needle so that it slips through the felt easily), heavy waxed linen or cotton thread, and wool yarns taken from old sweaters and socks, knitting silks, or crochet cottons for decorative effects.

How to Tame Wild Humming Birds
RALPH J. AYER, a farmer living on a rural route out of Eastonville, Colorado, has a hobby that requires a great deal of patience—that of taming wild humming birds. The humming bird is very suspicious of mankind as a rule, but Mr. Ayer decided to try to trick them into becoming better acquainted with him.

Can General Old's "Eyes" Guard America's Heartland?
By JAMES JOSEPH
Special from Anchorage, Alaska. Tonight the citizens of the American "heartland"—you Chicagoans and New Yorkers, the people of Detroit and Philadelphia—will prepare for bed, blissfully confident in tomorrow. Yet while you sleep, lights are burning late here in Alaska, particularly in the somber, sandbagged headquarters of the Alaskan Command at Elmendorf Field, just outside of Anchorage. This is a building which never sleeps. For here officers of the Alaskan Command are staying up nights worrying about you "heartland" Americans.

Brainstorms Can Bring You BONANZAS!
By DOUGLAS J. INGELLS
DO YOU know how to build a secret ray gun for 2c? Can you design, develop and produce a treasure-seeker or mine detector that will cost only a nickel? Or build a radar or television set that sells for a dime? Perhaps you could handle an assignment to design a jet plane—sale price 5c—that really flies? Or, how about those other bright ideas for trick gadgets and paper toys sailing around in your noggin!

Futuramic Two-Wheeler
YEARS ago, O.R. Courtney of Pontiac, Mich., built a fully-enclosed motorcycle that proved so successful he decided to come up with another. His new version, shown here, is totally enclosed and has a padded leather 2-passenger seat which lifts up to expose the main mechanical innards of the machine below. It is powered with an army surplus 45 cu. in. Indian V-twin air-cooled engine. Wheels are sprung on coil springs with adjustable dampeners, and the gasoline tank is enclosed beneath the cycle's front wheel hood.

For Buzzing Only For Buzzing Only A DIZZY height of 15 ft. was attained by this tiny bi-plane over the Palm Springs airport on its flight. Built for exhibitions at air shows at a cost of $2,200, the craft has a wing span of only 7 ft. 3 in., says Bob Star, test pilot and co-builder.

Awnings for Your Specs Awnings for Your Specs EYEGLASS awnings keep the raindrops away, according to Don L. Davis of Los Angeles, shown here sporting the new style, It took an aircraft maintenance engineer of Miami to think them up, though! A prize winner in a gadget oddity contest, the awnings are made of light stainless metal, may be […]